Ghosts of Harvard

by Francesca Serritella

anywhere but Harvard was to willfully not know, to stick her head in the sand. She had done plenty of that when Eric was alive, and she regretted it keenly. She had learned that unasked questions were more dangerous than unanswered ones. Cady had tried keeping the why questions

embarrassment. Cady had learned that the family of a suicide victim doesn’t get straight sympathy. Every “I’m sorry for your loss” that they received came with a look of curious judgment, the unsaid “How could you let this happen?”

she had a brother who died? Cady told herself she didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, but there was the more selfish reason; she didn’t want to be tragic. Tragedy taints a person, and no one wants to touch that sadness, just in case it spreads. A genius brother was one thing, a brother dead by suicide was another. She so badly wanted to rewrite that story, to give him, both of them, a better ending. And if that wasn’t possible, she didn’t want to tell the story at all.

Mark and Phillis, killed their master by poisoning him. (They only caught them because they stole the arsenic. Pity they didn’t know how to do it with mushrooms). They was dragged through Cambridge Commons and executed right outside these gates of Harvard. Everyone gathered to watch. Mark was hanged to death. But poor Phillis, she was old enough to be a grandmother, she was burned alive at the stake. Her smoke blew right through the Yard. Ten autumns since, and when the leaves turn, I can still smell her burning.

you gave one shit about his privacy? You have no boundaries.” “Boundaries are a privilege. Rich people have boundaries, I have limits, obstacles I have to work around. Accusing a star professor of sexual harassment is serious, the faculty here doesn’t just roll over when they’re threatened, there are repercussions—especially for

hung up the phone. All of her hope and happiness at seeing her mother instantly dissipated, with regret and dread taking their place. She had just asked her grieving and fragile mother to return to the site of her son’s suicide alone. Cady felt sick at the prospect of seeing the living proof of the pain that she was causing her mother. Just because she had some morbid impulse to retrace Eric’s final steps didn’t give her the right to force her parents to relive it with her.

Robert’s voice. Oh, how I adore Eliot. And don’t worry, I can read it. Robert began to slowly read it aloud to her, Cady simply repeating his words and becoming his mouthpiece: “For I myself have seen with my own eyes, the Sibyl hanging in a bottle at Cumae, and when those boys would say to her: ‘Sibyl, what do you want?’ she replied,

mouthful of warm chocolate-chip cookie when she saw the email that came in on her phone. It was from david.hines@fas.harvard.edu, Professor Hines, with the subject line “Important.” A wave of anxiety crashed over her. Cady had been so preoccupied with her worlds of the past, the ghosts’ and her brother’s, that she was completely blowing off her present. She was skipping classes, putting off assignments until the last minute, and she’d resigned herself to tanking tomorrow’s Psych exam. Ironically, she’d thought

that he may be watching her and hopeful that he was. Her face was red with anger as much as embarrassment, but she wanted him to know he wasn’t worth one tear. Hines simply hated her, he had hated her from the first day, and the feeling was mutual. She had never been spoken to that way by a teacher, much less been accused of something as offensive as plagiarism. She might have been off her game lately, but she wasn’t a cheat.

of the Navy, they want me to work on the latest prototype of dirigible aircraft carrier, the USS Akron. The muscles in her chest tightened. —Whit, that’s great, I’m so happy for you! That’s your dream job, isn’t it? Pretty much. I’d probably be doing grunt work, but it’s a chance to be part of something big, a new frontier in aviation. Something that could change the course of history.

the exact moment that I need to be sharp. Half the time, I’m sedated for no reason but this family. I have to get better for you. I mean, are you kidding?” His words rushed out in a feverish pitch. “Here and there—I’m too goddamn obedient, that’s my problem. No more. I’m not going to let you or her or Dad ruin me and my reputation. I’m looking out for myself now. I’m going to be the next giant in the physics world!” He stood there, chest heaving. “I’m calling Mom.”

heavy steps. Even with her nice outfit and saleswoman makeup, her mother looked haggard. Her first words to Cady were “What did you say to him?” —

your own conclusions, so what’s the point of explaining it? You won’t believe me.” “Try us,” Andrea said. “We want to listen.” Cady took a deep breath. “She’s a ghost.” Both the women were rendered speechless. Ranjoo’s kohl-lined eyes went wide, Andrea’s jaw dropped and the blue vein at her temple seemed to twitch. “Her name is Bilhah. She comes to me from 1765, she’s a slave in President Holyoke’s house, she has a kid she needs to get out of there, and she needed me to write that note to do it. So I did.”

university. He instated the quota for Jewish students, so our numbers don’t get out of hand. I made the cut, but alas, an exceptional Jew is still a Jew. Cady had no idea there was such a policy.

didn’t even tell your father where I was going, I was too mad. I drove up that night.” There was no sight more unsettling to a child, even a grown one, than a parent crying. The little girl in Cady wanted to crawl into her mother’s lap and

closed her eyes but opened them again when she felt her mother’s hand close over hers. She squeezed back. Now she understood that we must love people whom we cannot control, in fact, we are lucky to love and be loved by people we cannot control. If we could control the person, love wouldn’t be a gift. This was the uncertainty of life, and of death. It was what made life beautiful and terrifying at once. It was the state

‘I’m shockingly busy… doing virtual consults all day. The demand from wealthy and celebrity clients to get work done — face lifts, tummy tucks, breast augmentations — while no one is looking (while they have nowhere to be) is extremely high. Sadly, my answer is either “No” or “Not Yet.”’- NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Levine